


By the Sea

by unwillingadventurer



Category: Raffles - E. W. Hornung
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 13:04:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13788336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwillingadventurer/pseuds/unwillingadventurer
Summary: Raffles and Bunny take a trip to the seaside where something catches Raffles' eye.





	By the Sea

It had been quite a while since Raffles and I had attended the theatre together. It was not simple an excursion as it had been in the old days when we were very much immersed in society but now we were out of sight and we reasoned to be careful whenever we ventured into the real world, a world in which we were slowly slipping away from. Our landlady, as pleasant as she was, had badgered us into seeing a magic act to which in all honesty I reluctantly call ‘theatre’ but it was to the theatre we were to go. Our landlady’s love for Raffles, or Ralph as she knew him, only made it easier for her to persuade us to attend such low-variety entertainment. Raffles couldn’t bear to disappoint her when she was so kind to him so that is exactly how we came to be sitting in the third row of the Empire theatre.

Raffles had taken to one of his many disguises. This time it was round spectacles and a fluffy grey moustache and thick eyebrows to match his silvery hair. The moustache and glasses only seemed to increase his years by many and I’m sure on one or two occasions the lady next to him referred to poor old Raffles as my father and I his ‘sonny’. Raffles had through his usual coolness, let out his annoyance entirely with his eyes and a slight twitch of his lips at one side. 

He soon forgot the insult when the show commenced, and I peered at him many times for his reaction. In the blackness his features were harder to make out but we were both used to the dark- accustomed to communicating in minimal lighting and able to determine mood even if we could barely see one pace in front of us. This time he was giving nothing away. 

“Will you stop it?” he whispered.

“Stop what?” I whispered back with innocence.

“I am not the one on show, dear fellow.”

“Sorry,” said I with a quiet chuckle, trying to face the stage instead.

I’ve often been a slave to my anxiety, the slightest chance of confrontation and my heart races like a steam-train, and I do not have the character of Raffles in which to leap into unknown circumstances with nerves of steel and a calm exterior. Even after many years of assuming roles for Raffles and being thrown into events beyond my control with little planning beforehand, I still had yet to become an expert in the gentle art of coolness. 

“He wants volunteers, Bunny,” I heard Raffles say but I was wondering why he was directing it at me.

“Well I’m not volunteering!” I was adamant about that.

“Oh nonsense,” said he with a sly smile underneath his fake moustache and he raised his hand. “I have a volunteer, my good friend here.”

The magician on stage beckoned me over and I felt my legs weaken. All I could do was stutter and stammer, trying to politely decline, but Raffles was pushing me closer. 

“Oh, go on Bunny,” he said.

“But I don’t want to,” came my frantic reply.

“Oh, how can you refuse? A magician always needs a rabbit!”

‘I’ll get you for this.’ In my head I said it over and over to Raffles when in reality nothing escaped my lips except garbled words which held no meaning. The next moments were like a blur as the room spun around me- the crowd smiling, hands clapping, the magician’s face horrifying and full of beastly make-up. He asked for my pocket-watch which I reluctantly allowed, and then he placed it onto the table. He took out a hammer and brought it down. Whack! Right onto it! I couldn’t even let out a cry but as I turned away I heard the sound of it breaking. 

“Don’t fret, young sir,” the magician said, slapping me on the shoulder, out of my trance. “It’s not been damaged, I simply have to…”

And then there was a pause, a dreaded pause that seemed to last forever. It was silent as the whole room waited with anticipation. 

“Simply have to what?” I stammered through the driest lips I ever felt.

The magician’s alert eyes showed panic, the beastly make-up cracking across his face, and he was trying to hide he had made a mistake. He shoved the cloth with the broken pocket-watch into my hands. 

“Sorry mate, had a little mishap.” 

And with that he shot off backstage, just like that, with me holding the watch that was in pieces just like my shattered heart. I could hear the audience laughing around me but as I stared into their faces, they became hollow and vacant; every person becoming blank, the sound of the laughter filtering away until all I could see were faceless people with fingers pointing in my direction. I don’t recall leaving the stage but I remember Raffles’ face when I sat down. It was as still as it always was but there was a blaze of mischief in the eyes.

“I’m glad you find it funny,” I said, folding my arms.

“I didn’t say a word.” He turned to look at me, placing a hand on mine. “Oh, I knew he was a charlatan, Bunny, from the moment we sat down. We can’t all make magic happen.”

“Oh, you’ve made many things disappear.”

…

We were still conducting our conversation when we reached Ham Common and arrived home. Lighting us both a cigarette, Raffles ripped off the moustache at the same time and then removed the unbecoming spectacles and hideous eyebrows. He took a long drag from a Sullivan and I watched as the smoke billowed out of his mouth in a romantic circular motion. I, on the other hand, put out my cigarette almost as soon as he had handed it to me. 

“He ruined my watch,” I finally said after staring at him for several minutes, wondering why he wasn’t offended on my behalf. “You sent me up on stage knowing full well that magician was planning to sabotage my possessions!”

“My dear Bunny, I did nothing of the sort. I do admit to thinking what a show it would be to see you upon the stage, in the limelight for once in your life but how was I to know that the ignoramus would be as foolish as to break your watch? I thought he was simply going to saw you in half.”

I folded my arms again, refusing the glass of scotch whiskey he waved under my nose. “I suppose you’d have liked that!”

“Well one can see an advantage of there being two bunnies.”

“Two bunnies for you to humiliate.”

Raffles grabbed my hands and placed the glass of scotch firmly between them. “Drink up,” he said, “good for the shock.” He let out a smile.

“You find this so amusing.”

Raffles picked up his own glass and slowly took a sip of his own whiskey, taking his time to savour it. “I do not find it amusing, I am merely less vexed than you are.”

“That watch was the last reminder.”

With a sigh, Raffles sat down on the settee and watched me as I paced back and forth in front of the mantle. 

“Don’t you realise A.J, that the possession itself can sometimes mean more to a chap than its material worth?”

Raffles placed his drink onto the table, watching me as I made a circuit around the settee. “If I did, Bunny, I doubt I should have followed this particular path of burglary.”

“But you still don’t get it, do you?”

He didn’t reply. He was calm. He was the contrast of my anger and resentment of the whole business. 

“It was the only thing left, A.J, of the life I had before this one- the life of the other Bunny Manders before he was tarnished. It was pure and real.”

Raffles’ expression remained the same. His face showed no sign of anything at all. Yet his eyes, those deep blue eyes, they spoke, and they were gazing at me and they were listening, and somehow I knew, hoped anyway that they were understanding me.

“Don’t you care?” I squeaked. I finally downed my drink.

“If you are wounded, Bunny, then I do care. Shall I plan some scheme to remove something of the charlatan’s in return?”

“A despicable scheme to cast revenge does not summon my watch back!”

I placed down my glass and slumped on the settee next to him. Raffles looked quickly at me and our eyes met briefly before I looked away in shame and disgust. I instantly regretted my outburst as I so often did when I argued with him.

…

I scarcely saw Raffles the next week- he’d spent a few days away (where I couldn’t ascertain) but my mind wandered with all manner of harm that could befall him. It was just like Raffles to not telephone to reassure that everything was alright. 

My stomach was in knots for days, convinced it was I who had driven him away with my accusations against his character. But on the Friday, he was returned to me with an explanation as unconvincing as the magician’s act. Our landlady was beaming from ear to ear for Ralph had come back to us and not been found in the gutters as she had taken to believe, telling me so, over and over for three days straight. 

She had all the food on the table immediately when he arrived, ready to fatten up the slender Raffles who for some reason she assumed must have been starved.

We didn’t speak much until that evening when Raffles told me to pack a suitcase and meet him at Waterloo at 8am. That was all he said before he turned in for the night and in truth I was glad he didn’t want to talk any longer. I was still angry. 

…

I arrived at the station the next morning as requested. We still made the practice of boarding trains separately just in case we were spotted, but it was always refreshing to travel away from the city and I always felt a relief when I saw the London skyline fade away.

“What is going on? And where are we going?” I questioned as soon as we sat down opposite one another in our own compartment on the train. 

“Trip to the coast, Bunny. Thought you might like some fresh sea air.”

He placed his legs onto the seat next to mine and reclined in his chair, acting as though everything between us was as it should be.

“But you’ve only just come back from an excursion. Why do you want to go on another one?” I questioned.

“Because, my dear fellow, it is high time we took a break away together.”

“And what are we to do on this break?”

“My dear Bunny, there is no itinerary, we shall do whatever we please. We have a room booked for a night in a somewhat grand seaside hotel.”

I tried not to let out my smile. I had to admit it was nice to be away from being cooped up in our house and as nice as our landlady was, I was glad to be just we two again, away from prying eyes and interruptions.

“I haven’t been to the beach in quite some time,” I admitted.

“Then to the beach you shall, my rabbit. If you wish for me to bury you in the sand, it can easily be arranged.”

I laughed. “And you can go for a swim in the sea.”

He shuddered. “I think I shall have an aversion to swimming in the ocean for quite some time.”

“Ah yes of course,” was simply my reply.

…

Arm in arm, Raffles and I ventured along the picturesque promenade, chatting quietly to one another about the view at the top of the cliff. We wore similar attire- I, in my striped blue blazer and beige trousers, and Raffles in his own stripes, no longer the red and yellow I associated with him as the gentlemanly cricketer, but rather he wore a duller brown and grey which made him fade into the background more easily than it ever had before. Once upon a time, Raffles would have been admired and praised as he was recognised and respected for his cricketing and he lapped up any attention he received as others learned who he was. I enjoyed their praise towards him because I too praised and admired him so much. But now I was the only one on earth who was fond of Raffles. 

“I needed this,” I said, taking a quick glance at my dear friend who towered above me. “But I do have to say, A.J, that I do fear you could be recognised.”

He sighed. “I grow so weary of these disguises, Bunny. And I doubt anyone will know me. I am dead to the world now, twice over in fact.”

“But people still know of you, the famous Raffles.”

“My dear man, most people don’t go around claiming dead people are waltzing along the promenade. Now stop worrying!”

“Sorry, I’m being overly cautious. You’re Ralph now and no one shall know otherwise. What shall we do now?”

Raffles looked around, squinting his eyes in the direction of the small row of shops and cafes lining the edge of the promenade.

“I tell you what,” he said, “one could quite fancy an ice cream. Would you mind taking care of that, Bunny?”

“Of course, but where are you going?”

“Just a stroll over there. I’ll meet you on the pier in a few moments, there’s a good fellow.” He tapped me on the shoulder and I smiled, turning away from him. It was only then that it hit me that he hadn’t indicated what kind of ice cream he favoured. 

I spun back around. “Raffles, which did you want…?” But he was gone, no longer standing there. He’d vanished into thin air. He was the real magician among us.

…

When I arrived at the pier minutes later, carrying two cornets of strawberry ice cream, Raffles was walking slightly behind me.

“Oh, there you are,” I said, trying to hold the treats and ignore the cream dripping down my fingers. “Here’s your ice cream.”

I held it out for him but he looked at it with confusion. “What?”

“You asked me to get you an ice cream.”

“Did I really? Well I was a silly ass then. I do not want one, Bunny, why not eat them both yourself?”

“You want me to eat two ice creams?” I said with surprise. Why was his mind programmed to change as readily as night and day?

“Well I suppose two bunnies would come in handy at this moment.”

He began to stroll across the pier and I quickly followed, still holding the two cornets in my hand.

Raffles lit a cigarette. “Hurry up and eat old chap, they’re melting.”

Muttering under my breath, I realised it was almost like having a race with myself as I moved my tongue from scoop to scoop, licking the mound of ice cream rapidly to try and eat it before I was covered in pink.

I don’t remember the taste at all but I do remember the chill on my brain as though it had iced over completely. Raffles sat down so gentleman-like at one of the benches overlooking the water and I felt so un-gentleman-like as I dropped half a scoop of strawberry ice cream onto the ground with a plop. The cornet that remained, crumbled in my angered fist and Raffles instinctively reached into his breast pocket and handed me a serviette. I took it and gathered the mess together, binning the lot. I finally wiped my hands, ridding them of the seaside treat.

Raffles looked over me as I sat down. “Finished?”

It always amazed me how he managed to make my predicaments seem so insignificant. He’d never say three words to help me if one could suffice. He was silent then, more silent than I’d seen him in a while and his eyes narrowed, glancing at the blue-green waves as they splashed against the stone of the pier. 

“Is everything alright, Raffles?”

“Hmm?” He looked away from the mesmerising waves and glanced at me instead. “What was that, Bunny?”

I refused to repeat myself. “You seem awfully reflective, that’s all.”

“Do I? One has many thoughts when one gazes at nature in its full force.” He took a pause and then recited some Tennyson. “But such a tide as moving seems asleep, too full for sound and foam, when that which drew from out the boundless deep, turns again home.” He let the words linger on his tongue and I wondered what they meant to him and why he was reciting them now?

“It’s something, yes,” I said.

He seemed offended. “My dear Bunny, it’s ‘something’, just something that any Tom, Dick or Harry could describe? It’s majestic and unfathomable and perilous.”

“Same thing,” I said with a wry smile.

I did see the same beauty in the ocean as he did and it called to my heart quite deeply. But I found the same true of old Raffles himself. I could quite as easily have gazed at him for hours, sitting there in his summer attire, watching the little beads of sweat dripping down his forehead or wonder what his eyes were trying hard not to say. I would look at how the sun darkened his skin just ever so lightly and how he held his hands to his mouth to smoke the cigarette, his handsome fingers holding it so softly. Oh, how I wished he had looked at me with the same careful and admiring study.

I questioned him no further on his melancholy and instead I began forming reasons in my own mind for my older companion’s woeful expression. For weeks Raffles had dipped in and out of the same mood, days on end of peaceful reflection. Ever since the war in South Africa had occupied many of our minds, it had seemed to cast a black shadow over Raffles. We talked of little else back at Ham Common, when the morning breakfast brought a Daily Mail along with it, and stories of the war inside the pages. 

Raffles read everything with great interest whilst I mainly read about the cricket. He no longer could bear to read the cricket scores and would not even discuss them so I took to reading them in my room. I also had an interest in the war of course but too much and I turned sour like the week-old milk. When my Raffles had mentioned a trip to the seaside I suppose I jumped at the chance- if not only to talk of something other than the whole dreadful situation in some far-flung continent. 

I was quite surprised a moment later when Raffles was the one to speak. “You know this was one of the very first places that I stole something,” he said, a sudden smile emerging on his lips.

That was more like the old Raffles!

“Was it? You never told me!”

“It was long before any of the burglaries you and I committed together. No, I was at university then. The best of our generation.”

“What did you take?” I was full of giddy excitement.

“Funnily enough it was a watch. I took it right off the counter in front of the jeweller’s nose.”

“You took it right from under him?”

“Serves the devil right for leaving a masterpiece like that for anyone to steal!”

I laughed. “Not anyone, Raffles, you!”

Raffles laughed, deeply, gravelly. He was remembering.

…

We reminisced about it on the way back to the hotel, Raffles taking my arm and spinning a yarn of what kind of fellow he’d been at university. A wave of nostalgia seemed to sweep over him and knowing Raffles as I did, it was very serious indeed that dear old A.J was suffering from such an infliction as common old nostalgia. 

We arrived back at our room ready to abandon our daywear and change into our evening apparel instead. It was still only late afternoon so Raffles suggested we sit a while, relax and have a drink. So, we discarded our blazers and sat on our twin beds in our under-shirts. Raffles poured the liquid into the tumblers. 

“To old times,” he said raising his glass in the air. 

I did the same. “To old times!” 

Of course, to Raffles it implied a time when he was top of his game and top of the world. For me I wasn’t so sure. I would have followed that man to the ends of the Earth but I was also quite in my own nostalgia for a time when crime had never even been a thought that crossed my mind- to when owning a watch meant I was owning something that was truly mine.

Raffles sat back upon his bed, placing the pillow upright behind his back and lifting his legs so they were outstretched. He put the drink down after a refreshing sip and then stretched his arms behind his head. 

“Comfy?” I asked.

He smiled. “Why don’t you come sit beside me?”

I obliged and he slid over in the bed to leave a space for me. 

“Is there something wrong?” I said as I looked at him, lying back with his head next to mine against the pillow. His eyes sprung open and he looked back at me.

“Wrong, my dear Bunny? Why you do jump to conclusions, don’t you? I simply cannot hear you from over there so I asked you to join me.”

I smiled and watched as Raffles fiddled with his pocket, producing a box from the fabrics and pulling it out so his hands were caressing the sides. I admit I was a little terrified of what the box was as I’d not seen him with it since we’d arrived, and my mind immediately began picturing all kinds of devilish schemes of how Raffles had acquired it. And what was inside the damned thing, diamonds, rubies, pearls?

“My dear Bunny, you appear to have fallen into some kind of trance!”

“I’m sorry,” came my feeble reply, shaking the evil thoughts from my mind.

Raffles placed the box into my hand and his smile erupted across his face, his white teeth gleaming. “Well, open it.”

“It’s for me?”

“No, for Inspector MacKenzie, of course it’s for you!”

“What is it?”

He sighed. “One usually finds opening it will answer that question.”

I seemed to fumble with the damn thing for a moment, my hands trembling with the anticipation. I finally managed to open it, lifting the lid upwards and peering in at the contents. It was a beautiful sparkling silver pocket-watch, brand new and quite remarkable. I didn’t know whether I was happy or frightened.

“What’s the occasion?” I stammered.

“Oh really, Bunny, you are quite infuriating.”

“Where did you…” I paused, choosing my words carefully, “where did you get this?”

“I purchased it in the jewellers in Horbury Lane, the very jewellers I was telling you about earlier in fact.” And he seemed pleased with himself, so pleased I was doubting his story.

“Purchased?” I squeaked.

Raffles looked away for a moment. “Bunny, I bought you that watch with money- currency we call it, dear fellow- pounds sterling.” He gasped with a melodramatic turn. “Ah, I see. You think I pinched it.”

My face fell into my hands. “I’m sorry Raffles but you can see why I’d think that.”

“It’d be very hard to steal something that I wanted inscribed, Bunny.”

“Inscribed?”

He laughed. “Oh, my dear rabbit, I do adore that innocent face of yours.”

“You had it inscribed?”

“Take a look,” he said, reaching over to the box, taking out the watch, turning it over and placing it gently in my hands. I read the inscription:  
‘My dearest Bunny, thank you. Your AJR.’

I was speechless. I didn’t know what to say. His hands still cradled mine as he waited for my response and I could barely find the words.

“You bought me this to replace my old one?”

“It appears your old one holds sentimental value to you which can never be replaced,” he said, removing his hands from mine slowly, our fingers at last leaving one another’s, “but you deserve a new watch, one that will forever remind you of me.”

I didn’t know whether his remark was of vanity on his part of whether he was trying to warn me of a future without him. I dared not think it was the latter.

“It’s really very grand, A.J,” I managed to utter through my emotion. “And I’m sorry I’m not going to comment on it in the way you like, full of long fancy poetry but I really simply love it, honestly.”  
“Well then that is enough for me.”

I leaned forward then, leaving Raffles laying back across his pillow, still reclining in the casual way he felt comfortable. I stared at the intricacy of my new watch and was dazzled by the sheer exquisiteness of the design. It was a relief to finally have something beautiful that I did not want to have melted down as soon as possible.

“How on earth did you get all this done without me noticing?” I asked, crawling onto my legs so I was now cross-legged, facing him like we were back at the old school and I was pestering him for a cigarette. 

“It wasn’t hard, Bunny,” he said.

“No, I suppose it wasn’t. I mean you hardly tell me your plans at all.”

“I suppose on this occasion I can be forgiven that indiscretion?”

I nodded, eager to know how he first thought of the idea and when exactly he’d begun the plan. I asked him and he smiled, exhaling from a Sullivan’s before taking a deep breath to speak.

“Well you see, Bunny, I had it in my head straight away to buy you that watch. After all, it was my urging you to go up onto that stage that caused this calamity. Then I considered the engraving.” 

Raffles’ eyes were alight with wonder as he told the story. “It was after I left home, I was heading for a little break you see,” he told me, “I was not in your favour and I needed to get away if only to leave behind that unhappy little face of yours.”

I was about to protest but he hushed me. I let him continue.

“It was on that break, Bunny, when pondering your gift that I came across the same jewellers which was one of the first places I committed a crime.”

“You mean you hadn’t intended it?”

“Not at first, no, in my need for being virtuous, I swore to myself that my friend would need a watch from a fine jeweller and it was only upon arriving that I saw a familiar name swinging on the sign outside. And that was a sign indeed! Of course! By Jove! I shall buy a watch from the very place I had once stolen from.”

“To avenge your guilt?”

He spluttered. “Of course not. I have no shame at all for one of my first forays into criminal activity.”

“And was the jeweller the same jeweller you stole from all those years ago?” I gasped, almost trying to tell the story for him.

“The very same one. The now plump white-haired elderly gentleman was once the middle-aged jeweller who turned his back and let me remove the pocket-watch.”

“Let you?” I said with astonishment.

“Well yes, perhaps ‘letting me’ wasn’t quite how it happened.”

“And he didn’t recognise you?”

“Of course not.”

“I suppose you too have aged a bit, put on a few pounds, gone grey,” I said with a loud chuckle, but Raffles didn’t smile at my analysis.

“I meant because it was years ago!” Raffles snapped. “He was quite agreeable this time around though, told me that my recipient must be very lucky to have a friend like me.”

“Rather!”

“He had a little chuckle at your name, thought it was a gift for a little girl.”

I shrugged. “Never mind that. How did you have the nerve all those years ago to steal that poor man’s watch?”

Raffles thought for a moment and then took his time to get the words just right. “A force came over me the moment I saw it, Bunny. I needed to steal it. I had to have it there and then.”

“But that man’s trying to earn an honest crust. He works for his money. He’s not like the upper-class type you normally go after.”

Raffles bit his lip and his face remained still but his eyes showcased a hint of regret. Stealing from the less fortunate wasn’t usually his style. 

“I regret that part, but that part only.”

“I suppose we can’t regret everything we did in our youth, can we?” I said.

Raffles laughed deeply and took my hand. “You my dear Bunny, you were the whitest rabbit there ever was- with a rabbit’s courage. The only thing you ever could regret were the schemes I placed you into back at the old school.”

“I never needed much convincing!”

Truer words had never been spoken than that of my devotion to him. When it came to following A.J Raffles, I was powerless to resist.

…

The theory was put to the test when we decided on an early supper in which we put on our evening attire and headed down to the dining hall in high cheer. It was reminiscent of our old society days and in some strange way I missed it. I’d been an outcast of late and sometimes it was a lonely affair.

“This is very good,” I said through mouthfuls of my dinner as we sat opposite each other at a small table by the window. But Raffles’ knife and fork remained at the side of his plate, most of his food untouched.

“What’s the matter, indigestion?” I asked.

As usual Raffles ignored my query or rather hadn’t heard me, too engrossed with something behind my shoulder. I spun around discreetly to what attracted his senses and my eyes widened in horror. It was obvious from the moment I caught sight of the lady’s earrings that those diamonds were what had caught old Raffles’ attention. I spun back around to face him and I wanted to wipe the smirk of his handsome face.

“The nerve!” I said with a whispered shout. “Don’t you dare, Raffles! I know exactly what you’re thinking and don’t think it!” I slammed my fist onto the table but my hand landed on the fork instead sending my lettuce flying into the air and into my golden locks.

I saw Raffles smirking with a devilish glee as I attempted to remove the lettuce from my hair. I leaned across the table. 

“This is a trip to the sea, Raffles, the seaside. It is not a place for…you know what.”

Raffles reached toward me and untangled the lettuce leaf from my now wild hair. “Nonsense, Bunny, the sea is famous for thievery. Imagine the plundering pirates burying the booty to uncover the glorious treasures later.”

“Well I’m not having anything to do with whatever ‘booty’ you have in mind. And if you start burying your loot in sandcastles, I’m going home.”

“Will you be quiet,” he hissed, “this is not a conversation for other ears.”

“Don’t I know it. And you’re not a pirate, Raffles!”

And I sulked for the rest of my dinner and I sulked as we made our way to our room. I was even sulking as I waited for Raffles to take his bath.

“Bunny, I can hear you sulking even with my head under the water,” he said from the tub. 

Alas I suffered in silence. How I’d not succumbed to a heart attack was a miracle. I sulked again when Raffles climbed out of the bath and I handed him a towel. 

“Bunny you must know I have my heart set on it.”

I followed him to the mirror and watched him through the glass as he dried himself and began to change. 

“Yes, that’s the trouble. I know that when you have your heart set on something, we do it no matter how I feel about the subject.”

“I thought seeing as though you have your watch back you could forgive this little whim?”

I threw his shirt on the floor in frustration. “You devil of a man! Are you telling me you bought me the watch purely to get me to agree to this?”

“Don’t be a fool all your life, Bunny. Inspiration struck only at dinner.”

“Well perhaps you hoped, just hoped that some old dear would have a jewel worth stealing and the watch would soften the blow.”

Raffles picked his shirt from the floor and tried to un-wrinkle it. “Do you really think that is the case, Bunny?” 

He stared at me with his eerily calm manner and unmoving eyes. He didn’t utter a word and just continued to stare at me. I sat down in frustration.

“No, of course not, “I surrendered.

He placed his shirt on and did up the buttons, patting it down as he did so and fastening the collar tightly. He then set to putting on his bow tie, peering into the mirror for guidance. “You are not obligated to help me on this endeavour. This is my crime and mine alone. Oh, its been so long since the opportunity appeared. It’d be wrong not to take the chance.”

I sighed, noticing he was struggling with the tie and so I straightened it for him. “How will you know where the earrings will be?”

Raffles scratched his chin. “I’ll have to make friends with her and that chap she’s with…her husband you think?”

“He’s a very young husband if he is!”

“Yes, quite right but he’s much too familiar to be her son.”

I slumped back into one of the armchairs in our room. “Well leave me out of this part if you don’t mind.”

Raffles laughed and circled my chair, hunching over and nudging me with his arm. He put on his best gravelly pirate voice. “Well, shiver me timbers, me hearty, you leave the plundering to ol’ Raffles.”

I swatted him, trying not to laugh as he starting saying ‘Arrr’ into my ear. I was not going to let him think he’d beaten me. Sensing I wasn’t budging, he stood upright and headed toward the door. 

“I thought I made a very good pirate.”

“Well just go and walk the plank!” I regretted that sentence almost immediately. 

Raffles didn’t respond to my cruel words and instead reached for the door handle. “Well, Bunny, whilst you sulk a while longer, I shall work my charm on that certain old woman.”

“Are you young enough for her?” I joked. “And what if she recognises you as Raffles?”

He rolled his eyes upwards, clearly having had enough of my scolding words against his character. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll wear a fake moustache and speak in a phony accent. My Scottish is coming on a treat.”

“McRaffles?”

“I knew you’d come around to the idea,” he said.

…

An hour has passed when we found ourselves waving them off, well Raffles waving at the couple as they left the hotel, and then we headed toward her suite where Raffles produced the key. I didn’t know how he got it but I didn’t want to ask. I was more relieved to notice he didn’t have his burglar’s tools with him. 

He shut the door behind us as we entered the dark room and he drew the curtains. He switched the light on. “They leave in the morning,” Raffles began, “most of their bags were pre-packed earlier by the maid, the earrings among them.”

“And she told you all this?”

“Not in so many words my dear fellow. The husband was quite the talker, Bunny- an American, plays what they call baseball, a poor man’s cricket but quite the handsome chap. What he sees in old Lady Huntington…well I know what he sees in her, it’s the same thing I see.”

“Money?”

“Of course money!”

“That’s a bit cruel.”

Raffles shot me a look. “Yes, and we’re treating her with the upmost consideration by stealing her treasured earrings, now be quiet Bunny. You keep watch whilst I search for her trinket box.”

I stood bolt upright at the door as if on sentry duty, listening for any kind of movement upon the landing and I watched as Raffles opened the suitcase and rifled through some clothes which mainly consisted of women’s underwear. I was wondering how I had gone from outright refusal to willing participant in one easy hour. 

“Eureka!” he said a moment later, pulling out a small red case.

“Well if it’s the earrings, hurry up and get them so we can leave.”

“Patience, Bunny.” He peered inside the case. “Ah, even more beautiful up close.”

I made sure no-one was coming up the stairs and quickly made my way to Raffles’ side to have a look at the diamonds that had so taken his breath away. The moment we did hear a shuffle from outside the room, we fell silent and Raffles carefully slipped the case into his pocket.

“Raffles…”

He held his finger to my lips. “It’s alright Bunny.”

He brushed past me and I felt a surge of excitement pass over me- my anxious nature combined with the exhilarating sense of being caught. I had no desire to go to prison again but the allure of committing a theft was too strong, or rather committing the theft for Raffles. I had no desire to stoop so low for anyone else. 

He glanced through the small opening in the door and we waited a few moments before we heard the footsteps pass us by. 

“It was one of the guests going to their room,” Raffles whispered. 

“Thank goodness for that.”

Raffles waited by the door and felt into his pocket, double-checking the earrings were safe. I also reached into my pocket, to pull out my watch and check the time.

“Bunny, close that suitcase and let’s go,” he said but a sudden chime from the clock outside the hotel made me jump. “Bunny!”

I broke free from my trance and shut the case, jumping to my feet on command and waiting until he turned out the light before I opened the curtains. We shut the door behind us and we’d only made it up the hall when we collided with Lady Huntingdon herself back early with a headache! 

“Oh, Mr. Rafferty,” she said hiccupping, drunk as a fox, rambling her words grotesquely. “I do feel quite unwell. I must retire to my rooms at once.”

My heart sank. What if she noticed the earrings were missing?

…

I asked Raffles that very question as we ventured back to our hotel room and slipped inside.

“She will not notice they’re gone because the dear old girl has had so much to drink she’ll probably be out of it until departure.”

“You plied her with wine, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t need to. The old girl was guzzling down champagne before I even reached the table.”

“And her husband, what if he notices they’re missing?”

Raffles’ eyebrow rose. “And how many husbands do you know what rifle around in their wives’ underwear?”

I laughed. “Maybe one or two queer fellows. But Raffles?”

“Yes, Bunny?”

“You called yourself Rafferty, that’s quite the cheek!”

Raffles smiled with pride. “All part of the fun, Bunny.”

“Well I’ll feel much safer when we leave.”

“Not yet eh Bunny?”

“You mean we’re going to stay here even after we’ve been burgling them?”

Raffles placed a hand on my arm. “It’ll look more suspicious if we leave the hotel in the night never to return even though we’re booked until morning.”

I admitted he had a point but it was typical Raffles to do something where we’d be forced to wait until dawn. “But what are we going to do until lights go out?”

Raffles thought for a moment. “Well Mr. H is out on the town and we shall do the same. I hear there’s a funfair in town. Shall we go?”

“You want us to go to a funfair and what do we do with the earrings?”

“Well we don’t wear them out. Look, Bunny, they’ll be safe until we return. They won’t know they’re missing or to look here. Come on, the night’s still young.”

…

I hadn’t been to many funfairs in my life and I’ll admit it was a splendid way to spend our last hours of holiday, especially with my beloved Raffles. To me however it was a challenge to enjoy the atmosphere with the feeling of our crime playing heavily on my mind like a persistent melody. The carousel whizzed around us as many revellers gathered and we marvelled at jugglers who surrounded us, throwing knives into the air. It was quite remarkable. 

Raffles led me by the hand to a stall with a red curtain at the back. It was called a ‘Coconut Shy’ in which one had to knock coconuts off stands with a ball to claim prizes. This game was clearly made for Raffles and he rolled up his sleeves, knocking the coconut off with his first attempt. It was cheating really if they’d known of his bowling prowess but I clapped to keep up the charade that he was an amateur. 

“I say, well done old chap!” I said aloud and the man behind the stall begrudgingly conceded Raffles had won and was allowed to choose which ever prize he wished.

Raffles smirked, pointing at a small stuffed rabbit toy lurking forlornly in the background, and he thanked the man as he was handed it. We walked away arm in arm, Raffles still holding the toy, and we made our way to the beach. It was desolate and the sea was lit up beautifully by the light of the silvery moon. Raffles and I sat on the sand to which he handed me the toy.

“For you,” he said, “quite a likeness.”

I smiled, thanking him for the gift, the second of our trip- two gifts he’d given me earnestly. I would cherish them. The waves were crashing gently onto the sand and it was so mesmerising that I had almost forgotten about the stolen diamond earrings in our hotel room. I reached into my pocket to pull out my cigarette case but as I did so I realised something was missing, something very valuable indeed. I gasped, feeling into my pockets and on my person, but panicking when I couldn’t feel it there.

“What on earth’s the matter my dear chap, you’re twitching quite considerably?”

I couldn’t bear to say the words. “Raffles, I’ve been a fool!”

“What’s the matter?

“The watch, A.J, the watch, I’ve lost it!”

He didn’t seem at all worried or vexed and just sat there, looking onto the horizon and running his hands through the sand.

I grew impatient of this. “Well say something Raffles!”

“You most likely left it in our room for safe keeping, easily done.”

“No Raffles. I wore it to dinner. I wanted to have it on me.”

He finally sat to attention. “Are you certain?”

“I remember I had it when I checked the time in Lady Huntingdon’s room. You told me to close her case and then I took out my watch to check the time but the big town clock outside startled me.”

Raffles eyes lit up with a sudden spark of uncertainty. “Bunny, are you telling me the watch has slipped into her luggage?”

I nodded and then hit my fist on the sand. “I think so. Oh god, Raffles, it’s engraved. My crime is written for all to see. I’ll be ruined a second time.” I placed my hands over my face. I could feel the gritty sand all over my skin.

“My dear Bunny, how you worry so. It is indeed quite a mistake to make and a situation of dire consequences if it comes to fruition but even the worst entanglement can be untangled.” 

“You really think so?” I said, leaning over and engulfing him in a big hug. He tensed up, looking around him, shocked at my forwardness.

He lightly shook me off and then patted my head. “It’ll be fine, I promise.”

…

If only I had the same faith in the matter as Raffles did. I always believed that he could get us out of tricky situations but it was I who truly was in for it if the watch was discovered and not he, who for all intents and purposes was very much dead. He didn’t have everything to risk and though I trusted he would always do his best, there was still that fear that history would repeat itself, that I would be incarcerated while he would simply walk away. I pretty much told him as much as we walked up from the beach to the busy promenade. Granted, I didn’t mention my bitterness of my sentence in prison or the resentment I felt towards him for his part in the proceedings but I did have a lot to say.

“I’m the one who’s in for it,” I whispered as I scolded myself over and over for my error.

“Dear Bunny, do you think because it is you who is most at risk that I would not take the matter as seriously?”

I looked down at my shoes, not daring to look him in the eye. “No, it’s not that exactly. It’s just typical that’s all. You buy me a watch but its engraved and now I go and leave the wretched thing at the scene of a crime.”

“The scene of my crime, Bunny, mine alone. The watch merely bears your name but does it not also bear mine?”

“Yes, but you’re dead!”

“Exactly. It could just as easily be a watch from the days before I was cold in the ground.”

“What difference does that make, its still obviously belongs to me?”

“True. And are you angered with me because I had it engraved?”

“No, only with myself for being foolish enough to take it with me.”

Raffles grabbed my shoulders as we neared the hotel entrance. We waited for some people to pass and then he looked seriously at me. 

“You listen to me. It’s still early enough that Lady Huntingdon is unlikely to notice anything amiss. All we have to do is wait patiently until morning.”

“Morning?” I found myself shouting. He hushed me.

“She’s tucked up in bed with a headache, drunk as a skunk and unaware that her precious earrings are missing. She is also oblivious to the new pocket watch in her possession. The best time for us to take back our property is when we’re all set for departure at dawn. You’ll have to sit tightly and keep calm until dawn, Bunny, that’s all.”

“Easier said than done.”

He rubbed my arm as we made our way into the hotel and up to our room, shutting the door gently. Raffles sat on the bed. 

He rubbed his chin in thought. “I shall have to find us some uniforms.”

“What for?”

He laughed. “Well we have to blend in with the staff here if we’re to help dear old Lady Huntingdon with her luggage tomorrow.”

Raffles did what he always did to settle my nerves and he handed me a cigarette which was pre-lit for me and a glass of whiskey which I couldn’t touch a drop of. 

I sat down upon my own bed and tried to rest my eyes but all I could think about was that wretched watch. I couldn’t fall asleep with my stomach churning in the way it was. I glanced over at Raffles who was laying back across his bed, whiskey on the bedside table and his eyes were closed.

Minutes passed. “Raffles are you awake?” I whispered.

His eyes sprang open. “Yes, Bunny. I’m resting my eyes, that’s all.”

I wondered sometimes if Raffles ever slept. It was all or nothing with him- he either slept not at all or the whole train journey.

“Can’t you sleep, Bunny?” he asked, eyeing me from his bed.

“Not a wink.”

There was a sudden unexpected chuckle from him and I began to laugh along with him- the merriment so infectious and I couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, it’s just the memories that resurface, that’s all.”

“About the jewellers?” I asked.

“No, no, nothing like that. I was thinking about the old school. You and me together like this doesn’t half remind me of it. Me relaxing with a whiskey by the bed, you unable to sleep with panic you were to be found out by the headmaster.”

I smiled. I adored those memories and I so loved when Raffles spoke of them because he didn’t often and I sometimes worried he’d forget them and not cherish the past in the same way I did. Raffles waxing philosophical at that moment however did feel me with a certain uneasiness. Ever since the war he seemed to contemplate, open up to me ever so slightly and it was like he was looking back upon his life rather than looking ahead to the future. I really believed at that moment that Raffles seemed to know there was not much left for him in life.

I tried to put those thoughts as far away from my mind as possible, after all I had too much to worry about with the current issue and didn’t need more to fret over. We spoke until the early hours, laughing and joking about the silly things we had seen at the funfair. The men who had fire coming from their mouths like dragons had been of particular interest to Raffles and it did not surprise me one jot that he found himself drawn to dangerous entertainment and risk-taking activities.  
We laughed as we recalled our ride on the carousel, Raffles and I side by side on yellow horses, him trying to ruffle my hair as we clung to the golden poles that descended from the ceiling like we were in some grand palace. 

If the night did end in disaster, at least I always had the memory. By the time early morning arrived, I was fast asleep and had to be woken by Raffles. He was standing above me, out of focus at first but when my eyes adjusted to the light, he was as handsome as ever.

“Step lively, Bunny, put this on,” he said, throwing a green uniform at me.

I rubbed my bleary eyes. “Morning already?”

“Yes, and there’s work to be done. Get your clothes on, there’s a good fellow.”

I looked up at him, he now wearing the same green uniform with gold buttons. “Hold on, you’ve met the lady, won’t she recognise you?”

“Which is why I’m simply the one carrying her luggage. You my dear Bunny will escort her to the carriage and make sure she’s settled.”

“You want me to do most of the talking?”

“Yes. I trust you.”

“But I was dining as a guest last night too, what if she recognises me?”

“In a hotel servant’s uniform, I think not. Rich people do not look at the help’s faces, Bunny. She’ll no more notice you than she would a street urchin with a begging bowl, besides she barely glanced your way at dinner.”

I nodded in agreement and hurriedly put the uniform on, doing up my buttons in the wrong order as I fumbled nervously. “Where are our own clothes?” 

Raffles grinned. “The porter’s taken our luggage to the station already.”

I had to hand it to him. He’d managed to take care of everything in the few hours I was out for the count. He then watched me as I re-did my buttons, put on my jacket and met him at the door. He straightened the jacket out a bit, dusting off specks of dirt from my shoulders. “There, its like you’ve worked here for years, Bunny.”

“What am I going to say to her?”

“Who?” he said, peering around the door.

“Lady Huntingdon.”

“Small talk, Bunny and remember she’ll most likely not be listening to what you say but if she does, take care to recall you’re a respectable sort of chap but still a working one but not the gentleman you or I are. She’s also one for younger men if you recall so flash her one of your best smiles from that sweet darling face of yours and you’ll be fine. Quick, we need to get the cases downstairs before any of the real staff catch wind.”

I nodded and we left the room, looking around before heading straight to Lady Huntingdon’s suite. She was coming out of the room with her maid and waved her hand at us to signal we could fetch her luggage. As predicted she didn’t even glance our way. 

Outside we loaded the luggage as fast as we could, Raffles darting innocently to the back of the carriage, ready to rummage through as soon as the coast was clear. I helped Lady Huntingdon into the carriage, smiling at her.

“Lovely day,” I let out quietly. “I hope your journey is pleasant.” I said it simply trying to sound less well-spoken than I was.

She finally looked at me for the first time and smiled. “Oh yes, its been delightful, dear. And I must say, this hotel has quite the best-looking men I’ve just about seen. And I’m not just talking about the gentleman guests!”

I blushed as I felt her eyes upon me.

I glanced quickly at Raffles at the back of the carriage. Thankfully he was distracted. However, he was taking ages and my heart was pumping with fear. Lady Huntingdon’s maid was at my side double-checking everything. She looked at me shrewdly and then at Raffles. 

“I don’t remember seeing either of you here at all,” she said. 

“Oh, well yesterday was our day off,” I spluttered, trying to sound as calm as I possibly could. I could tell she didn’t quite believe me. She was a rather pretty girl and a friendly sort. I hated having to deceive her in the way I was.

“You’re…very beautiful,” I improvised and I sensed a whiff of disapproval from Lady Huntingdon behind her fan.

I kept my eyes locked on the maid’s. If she were to look at me, she wouldn’t be looking at Raffles. She seemed reluctant to answer at first but then she smiled and our eyes were staring at one another for quite some time.

“I’m Ethel,” she said politely.

“I’m… Ted.”

The exchange between us felt like eternity and I was so relieved when I could see Raffles by my side giving me a signal that the job was done. 

“You ready to go after this?” Raffles whispered to me.

I nodded quickly at him and then turned back to Ethel. “It was lovely to meet you,” I said. 

Ethel took my hand in hers and kissed it. “And lovely to meet you, Ted.”

“Well I never!” Lady Huntingdon said. “Ethel, come away from that young man, he is most unsuitable for you.” She leaned out of the window and rubbed my arm in a familiar tender manner. “He needs a woman of a more mature standing.”

My eyes widened in horror and I backed off and waved her goodbye. 

When the carriage departed, I turned back to see Raffles grinning at me like a cunning fox.   
“You Casanova, Bunny. Two women interested in you and you kept the game going. That maid was a sweet girl though, quite attractive.”

I shooed him away trying to cover my crimson cheeks. I’d never had more than one woman interested in me in my whole adult life and then two came along at once. So, at last I knew how it felt to be the famous Raffles. 

“Never mind the maid,” I said, “did you get my watch?”

…

We made haste to the station, sneaking away from the hotel as best we could without suspicion. I had to ask Raffles how he managed it as we found the toilets, discarded our disguises and slipped into our regular daytime clothes. He hushed me until we were safely in our own carriage on the train. 

“I simply left a note for the staff that Lady Huntingdon was leaving later than planned. They’ll get a surprise when they go to collect her things and find she’s already gone. It was rather nice of us in a way.”

“Nice, what do you mean?”

“Staff got a little longer for a good breakfast.”

I laughed, trying to get comfortable on my seat. “Let’s just hope she’s not on the same train we are.”

“My dear Bunny, how long have we been partners? Her train ticket was one of the first things I checked.”

“Well I’m relieved it’s all over.”

Raffles fell quiet and I wondered what he was thinking about. 

“Penny for them?” I asked.

“Oh nothing, just wondering where we shall get the champagne for when we return we celebrate!”

“The watch or the crime or the escape?”

“Whichever you like.”

“We can’t tell our landlady about any of this.”

“We shall tell her about the beach and the fair and the exquisite dinner.”

He fell asleep for the rest of the journey. He looked so peaceful I couldn’t bear to wake him up when we reached Waterloo. 

…

Our landlady presented us with quite a feast on our arrival and Raffles presented her with a naughty seaside postcard he’d picked up at one of the kiosks on the beach. She blushed, swatting him away whilst chuckling.

“Oh Mr. Ralphie, it’s very naughty indeed,” she said to a similarly laughing Raffles.

“Something told me you’d find it a lark,” he said.

…

After the sumptuous feast, Raffles and I were eager to sit alone and relax. We sat on the leather settee, side by side, the top buttons of our trousers undone after the big dinner. 

I sighed happily. “Well I say it was quite an achievement all said and done. You’ve got the earrings and I’ve got the watch.”

“I dare say we’ve had worse days.”

“Still, now I’m not at risk of being thrown into wormwood scrubs, I can at least take the memories of the last day with me forever.”

“Good one was it, Bunny?” Raffles was smiling.

“Oh, I say it was!” I exclaimed.

“I expect the next few days may be less exciting.”

“We can still have memories that don’t involve such risk, Raffles. Being with you is joy enough.”

Raffles patted my knee and smiled. “Well thank you, Bunny, but I must say, it did rather startle me when you left that watch in the suitcase.”

“You, startled, I don’t believe it?!”

“Not for myself, but for you my dear fellow. I couldn’t have you back inside prison. No, something had to be done.”

“Well I’m very glad you thought of something.”

“Perhaps in future you leave the watch in your rooms, yes?”

I nodded continuously. I’d learnt my lesson. “A memento from a friend.”

“Yes, Bunny, from a friend.”

He took my hand in his and we shook on our agreement. Our eyes met and we didn’t move them for several moments.

“To Bunny!” he said warmly, holding up an imaginary glass.

“To Raffles!”

He then produced the stuffed toy rabbit he’d won on the coconut shy and waved it in front of me. “We did rather agree that two bunnies were better than one, did we not?” He laughed.

And so did I.


End file.
